Wine, art event raises funds for India outreach

REDLANDS - Wine and art join forces for the benefit of evangelism on Jan. 13 at a fundraiser to send seven area missionaries to do Christian outreach in southern India.

The event is from 4 to 7 p.m. at State Street Winery, 404 E. State St., Redlands.

Life Quest Pastor Mike Giordano of Yucaipa leads the mission team: Faith Noerr, Matt and Cammie Anderson, and Lara Yegge, all of Redlands; Dave Robson of Highland; and Tim Bloom, also of Yucaipa.

The group needed $20,000 to get to India and do their work. They still have about $2,000 to raise, Giordano said.

Several area artists, including Noerr's father, Tom Fontanes of Redlands, will have their work on display and available for sale through a silent auction. Part of the proceeds from wine sales will also go to the fundraiser.

"One hundred percent of the proceeds from everything I sell is going toward the mission trip," said Fontanes, who works in mixed media and collages, and also creates three-dimensional paintings. "You need special glasses for the 3-D effect, but the paintings are good on their own, too."

Fontanes said his daughter has participated in many missionary outreach efforts, but this will be the 27-year-old Noerr's first trip to India.

Life Quest is a U.S. church planning network that builds partnerships with Christian pastors in other countries. The aim of the team's India trip, set to begin later this month and continue into February, is to work with Christian pastors at three conferences in the southern part of the country.

Giordano said the gatherings hosted by the U.S. team will give between 200 and 300 local pastors the spiritual tools and techniques they need to connect with the 400 million people in India who, he said, have not heard the Christian message.

"There are five hundred thousand villages in India where they have never heard the name of Jesus at all," Giordano says in a video on the mission trip's Facebook page.

The conferences will focus on church planting, which means founding new fellowships, plus spiritual identity and ministry. The local pastors will also get hands-on training and experience through miracle festivals, village ministry and city ministry.

In addition to the fundraiser at State Street Winery, Giordano invites individuals to donate $10 through the group's website and help promote the mission effort through Facebook, Twitter and other social media.